Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1887-08-05
LIFE IN THE DEEP SEA.
Some Curious Revelations of the Dredge
and the Microscope.

We made frequent trips far out toward
the Bermudas, where the ocean waters
extend downward to a depth of fully
$4,000 feet, and then we cast our dredge
and scraped about in a blind manner
after whatever we could find. 1t was
the deepest water that had ever been ex-
plored, and our results were most Won
derful The bed of the sea was found to
be mass of dark blue very sticky mud,
which, when examined by the micro
scope. was found to be composed in large
measure of the minute shells of a very
lovely organized animal with no common
name. but called scientifically foramini-
fera. This mud existed everywhere, and.
curiously enough, it is found to be almost
exactly the same as the chalk cliffs of
England, differing only in that it is still
muddy. If bit of chalk is examined
with microscope it will be found TO be
composed of multitudes of beautiful
shells, and there is no doubt that this
ocean mud would form into chalk if it
could be exposed to the air. Each fine
muddy particle is the cast off remnant of
an animal that lived and died in the
great depths of the sea.
On this great bed of mud the most re-
markable creatures live in vast numbers.
There are serpent like starfshes, beauti.
full branching corals, ugly black fishes,
pure white ''sea cucumbers, bright
pink, purple and red sea anemones and a
host of other creatures. The fishes are
always strange and uncouth, with huge
mouths and stomachs all in one, but with
the tail hardly noticeable. When the
fishes are brought to the surface their air
bladders and stomachs protrude from
their mouths, their eyes bulge out and
the blood is forced through the skin.
Life has been crushed out of them by the
sudden change of pressure, the gases
within having burst the tissues and body
walls asunder The tremendous pressure
of the water was well shown by lower
ing an empty bottle, which was crushed
to atoms.
There is very curious deep sea animal
allied to our interesting hermit of soldier
crabs. These fellows have soft and
unprotected tail, and one of the first
moves after birth is to rush about for
deserted sea snail shell to cover their I'm
protected parts. This shell the hermit
carries about wherever it goes, taking a
new one now and then whenever it out
grows its old home. This house moving
is inconvenient, for as soon as the hermit
exposes his soft tail to the gaze of his
fellow crabs they are apt to give it a nip,
and our hermit may find himself tailless
and hence of no use in this world. for
with the tail goes the stomach. Besides.
in the deep sea deserted shells are not
very common, and our hermit may find
himself without a home when he most
needs one.
Born in the same waters there is a
curious polyp, or sea anenone mid
way, scientifically speaking. between a
true anemone and coral polyp. Unlike
the ordinary sea anemone, its body
walls are filled with sand SO that it
does not form good food for fishes.
Shortly after birth this anemone, which
has been swimming around for a
few days, is seized with an uncon-
trollable desire to settle in life, and ac-
cordingly be runs plump against the shell
of hermit crab. He very seldom misses
his mark, and Immediately commences
tying himself on to stay He grows
rapidly, and in a few days has completely
surrounded our hermit's shell, leaving
one opening above uncovered. The next
step is to absorb the hard shell. and all
this is accomplished before the hermit
has felt the necessity for a change of resi-
dence. Once having the hard shell alb
sorbed our anemone does not propose that
the crab shall leave it, so he commences
growing slowly, just keeping pace with
the growth of the hermit. SO the two
live together through life, each doing the
other a favor. the hermit carrying the
anemone from place to place and prob
ably leaving bits Of food for its satisfac-
ton now and then. while the anemone
furnishes the hermit with comfortable,
transportable house, which grows to suit
the growing demands of the tenant
Hartford Courant.